Healthy Easter Treats: How to Make Cheddar Bunny "Carrots"

Aside from all the plastic junk that accumulates around the holidays, the other thing that makes this green mom  crazy, is that Americans are conditioned to always celebrate holidays with large quantities of sugar. Candy candy everywhere! So if you aren't filling your little bunnies' easter eggs with candy, what do you put in their basket or bring as treats to class parties?

Creative Carissa's Favorite Healthy Easter Options

• Make your own playdough
• Books  (I just bought brand new Dr. Seuss books at Goodwill for $1 each)
• Socks
• Non-Toxic Nail Polish like Piggy Paint
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Healthy Snacks 
• Cheddar bunny carrots!

What you need
These carrots are super simple and were made with things I already had on hand. You will need:

• Annie's Cheddar Bunny crackers
• Plastic baggies **see my note below about plastic bags**
• Scissors
• Green Yarn or ribbon

**An important note about plastic bags**

Beware of the triangle shaped party bags often sold in the seasonal section of department stores as the plastics used often contain questionable ingredients like BPA. Instead, purchase baggies made for food that are explicitly labeled to be PVC, BPA and phthalate free. I personally use the bags from Whole Food's 365 brand as they are 100% polyethelene and free of these questionable ingredients.

Step 1: Fill the bag
Open a bag and pour in about 1/2 cup of crackers.

Step 2: Check for "carrotiness"

Make sure your bag is filled to the right level to make you happy with its carroty shape. Add more crackers if needed.

Step 3: Trim the top
Trim the top zipper edge off the bag.

Step 4: Tie the top
Pull out a length of about 2 yards of yarn. Keep folding the length in half until you have a large loop about 6 inches in length. Tie it around the top of the crackers.

Step 5: Make it pretty
Slide your scissors in the ends of the yarn loops and trim them to make a cute little tuft of fringe.

Step 7: Repeat
Keep going until you have all the little carrots you need. If you are bringing these to a class party or group event, be sure to keep or photocopy the ingredients list from the box so anyone worried about food allergies can check them out before enjoying.

If you have a favorite non-toxic or non-sugary Easter idea, I'd love to hear about it! Please feel free to share in the comments.

Beautiful Spring Wreaths

It's official: Spring is on it's way! Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far where I live in Northwest Oregon. We've been graced with sunny, dry weather and I just can't wait for the danger of frost to pass so I can get my garden going.

Since it's not quite time to get some spring color in the ground, I wanted to feature some of my favorite front door spring door bling from around the blogosphere. Hopefully they will inspire you to make something fabulous and colorful for your own abode!

Pin It

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Spring Wreath from Under the Sycamore

I love this beautiful wreath wrapped in yarn and moss and sprinkled with beautiful butterflies. Visit her site to get the full tutorial.

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Mossy Spring Wreath from The Magic Onions

Moss is a theme I love for spring decor - especially since I'm surrounded by it as the weather warms up here. Keep moss where it belongs...on your front door (instead of in your yard!). Click the link above to visit the full tutorial.

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A Quick and Colorful Wreath from Kiki Creates

If you're in an upcycling mood, turn some fabric and sewing scraps into cute flowers and leaves to make this bright Spring wreath. Kiki doesn't have a tutorial for her wreath but she's got some great close up shots on the blog so be sure to visit to check it out!

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My Spring Wreath

Last year I made this spring wreath from some dollar store sprigs and a grapevine wreath. I can't wait to take it out of storage and hang it on my door!

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If I featured your project, please feel free to grab a button if you'd like:

<a href="http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiklZr_Hri2zrZPhH-zN8NNyq6pEdZTgy-Rcud5hiRQiD_geRrQiXRwXiydjUqfA42RYEjke7JoQA2_vGlVBh3g7GadFxK3q2nnFZ0yC5AEv86c3o5l36hOBeqz164TxXzugVmQDxje50I/s150/featured%252520button%252520150%252520px%252520copy.jpg" alt="Carissa's Creativity Space" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Can't get enough wreaths? I pin my favorite Wreaths year round on my Pinterest Wreaths board. 

If you've got a fabulous wreath you've made, leave a link in the comments. I'd love to pin you, too!

Happy Easter!

My wee one has hijacked my blog in order to say...

And...

[Easter] Sunday's Coming!

Last week was my birthday which means....Easter is on its way!  Just a little less than a month until Easter and I'm deciding what things we want to do to celebrate and decorate around the house.  Here are a few Easter ideas I'm totally loving:

1) Grow Your Own Easter Grass

(Picture from Zakka Life)

The number one Easter idea I am TOTALLY loving this year is growing your own Easter grass. Who wants that plastic, stringy stuff anyway? It's just going to end up in the trash. Plus it's a choking hazard for both my dogs and my kiddo. When you're done, juice it or compost it.

Basic how-to:
1) Pick a pretty basket
2) Line the bottom with foil or plastic. Add a thin layer of potting soil
3) Sprinkle some rye or wheat grass seeds on the surface
4) Water and keep warm

Sustainable. Pretty. Non-plastic.  I'm sold!  We're actually heading to the nursery tomorrow to get seeds so we can start growing our grass baskets this week.

Countdown to Spring: More Great (and Thrifty!) Ideas

I love Spring for lots of reasons. I get to start my garden after a long cold winter, I get to swap out the red winter decor for some great green stuff, and Easter, the high Christian holiday.  I found one great craft from each of these categories that I'm totally loving and thought I'd share for my fellow spring lovers.

For the Garden: Plantable Seedling Pots

While I love the idea of plantable seedling pots, I feel like they frequently don't work out because the bottoms  usually decompose slower than the roots grow to the bottom of the pot and need more space.  That's why I love these. You put paper towel tube pieces in a water proof tray and fill with dirt.  There is no bottom so when it's time to plant you don't have to worry about cutting out the bottom or dealing with plants that don't have enough root space. While the twine is pragmatic (keeps the tube from unrolling when it's wet) it makes it look super cute. I found these over at Homework: Today's Assignment, Be Inspired.

For the Green: Split Pea Centerpiece

I love staggered height candle holders. These are easy to make, super cheap (way better than the $10+ for each piece you'd pay even at IKEA prices) and GREEN. Check out the tutorial over at Two Twenty One.

For Easter: Treasure Rocks

Cindy actually made these to be treasure "blarney stones" for St. Patrick's day. Which is cool if you celebrate St. Patty's (we're actually not big St. Patty's day people). Why I think these are AWESOME though, is because you could make them egg shaped and do these for Easter. If someone can't find an egg, you don't need to worry about it starting to smell or attracting animals. They are made with non toxic ingredients (can't say that about plastic eggs). AND smashing your eggs open with a hammer is a ba-zillion times cooler than opening plastic eggs (especially when you have a family full of little boys like we do).  Check out Cindy's brilliant idea and tutorial over at Skip to My Lou. 

Happy Easter!!

Does the hat look familiar? It's my cute little nephew wearing his Christmas sweater and bunny hat from Auntie Carissa. Awww. So sweet.

Happy (belated) Easter, Everybody!